“If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere.”

As the valet parks the gleaming red Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio out the front of our SoHo hotel, purposely avoiding the sliver of baking summer sunshine and placing it in the shadow of the skyscrapers that tower over lower Manhattan, Frank Sinatra has never crooned a truer tune.

The iconic Italian brand has spent billions in “making a brand new start of it” in a bid to become “A, number one” and challenge those rival brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi that remain at “the top of the heap” of the luxury market.

‘Ol Blue Eyes cliches aside, critical to Alfa’s ambitious turnaround plan is becoming a success in the cut-throat North American market. Key to that is the company’s first SUV, the Stelvio, which launched locally earlier this year with the mainstream four-cylinder versions.

Ahead of the high-performance Quadrifoglio version that arrives in early 2019, with its Ferrari-derived twin-turbo V6 under the bonnet and four-leaf clover badges on its flanks, we sampled one in the US and took it on a treasure hunt from Little Italy in Manhattan to Boston in search of a shamrock and, more importantly, to see whether it can actually “make it here”.

Is it bellisima?

Like the impressive Giulia sedan that introduced the foundations for the new generation of Alfa Romeos, the Stelvio rides on the aluminium-intensive ‘Giorgio’ platform with the same key mechanical elements and measurements.

There is, however, an obvious difference in that the Stelvio is a high-riding wagon with an all-wheel drive transmission where the Giulia is a rear-drive sedan.

But it clearly belongs to the same family, with its slim feline-like headlights pointing inwards towards the signature shield on its nose while its taut body and 20-inch ‘telephone dial’ alloys give it a muscular stance.

Its design resonates with the locals, as I’m startled by the maitre de of Caffe Napoli who quickly marches over and taps on the window while we’re stuck in heavy traffic on Mulberry St, one of the most prominent streets in the shrinking Little Italy district.

“That’s-a such-a beautiful car,” he says with a thick New York-Italian accent.

“Is it an Alfa Romeo? I didn’t know-a they did-a SUV.”

It isn’t the only time I’m asked that question, which indicates that Alfa still has some work to do in building awareness that it - and the Stelvio - exist in the US.

Nevertheless he’s clearly enamoured by it. “Bellisima, Bellisima,” he says while prompting me to give it a rev up the street, to which I obligingly blast off.

Can it handle NY's busiest intersection?

From Little Italy, we head west on Canal St and past the fashion boutiques of SoHo towards the artistic enclave of Chelsea before driving uptown for a chaotic lap around Times Square, where the blood red Stelvio stands out among the fleet of yellow cabs and attracts plenty of attention from the thousands of pedestrians, as well as a few happy snaps from ‘outta-towners’ on the top deck of tour buses.

It’s a good chance to see how the Stelvio performs as an everyday machine among the grind of slow moving traffic.

With its DNA drive controller left in the comfort-oriented ‘Normal’ setting, it is relatively comfortable for a performance-focused SUV with the adaptive suspension managing to keep the craggy, potholed street surface largely isolated from the cabin while the quick-ratio steering and strong Brembo brakes help make light work of dodging the errant cabbies when they make sudden lane changes.

The unique 90-degree vee angle of the V6 (derived because it is essentially a Ferrari V8 with two less cylinders) does bring with it some inherent balance issues with a lumpy idle when stopped in traffic.

What's the interior of the Stelvio Q like?

But that quickly fades into the background when soaking up the beautiful sense of tactility within the Stelvio’s cabin, with the seats clothed in a mix of leather and Alcantara, while the warmth of soft cowhide on the the dash and door trims is contrasted by the coolness of brushed aluminium highlights and carbon fibre inserts.

Those sports seats in the front offer plenty of side bolstering, but the short cushion means there’s not as much under thigh support, and Alfa still hasn’t nailed the perfect ergonomic relationship in the driving position as, even in its lowest position, the driver’s seat feels too high, the gorgeous three-spoke steering wheel is too close and pedals are too tall in the footwell.

The overall design lacks the sort of flair you’d expect from an Italian sports car too, featuring a pair of clear analogue gauges under the twin-cowl instrument pod, while the centre section houses simple ventilation controls and an 8.0-inch colour multimedia screen that somehow doesn’t fill out the entire space allocated to it and has a fussy menu to access its features.

It doesn’t help that Apple CarPlay is playing up as we attempt to escape from New York, reverting to the standard sat nav to find our way through Harlem and across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.

Get outta town...

Amazingly, within 20 minutes of traversing the Hudson River, heading north on the Palisades Interstate Parkway, it’s hard to comprehend we’re still within shouting distance of one of the world’s most densely-populated megacities as the dual-lane carriageway is shrouded under a verdant canopy of state forest.

Here, we can finally stretch the legs of the Stelvio Q and tap into the performance potential from its 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 that produces 375kW at 6500rpm and 600Nm of torque from 2500rpm.

Out on the open road, it’s an effortless cruiser, using that rich vein of pulling power and the broad spread of ratios within its eight-speed automatic to casually lope along at the 70mph (112km/h) speed limit.

A burst of speed for a quick overtake is never far away, as the auto rapidly drops a few cogs when you tip into the throttle, which elevates the tacho needle right into the meat of the engine’s torque curve for rapid acceleration.

What's the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q like to drive?

But the Stelvio’s talents are deeper than just being a weapon in a straight line, which we discover when we reach the spectacular Hawk’s Nest section of the I97 just outside of Port Jervis on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

It’s a twisting ribbon of tarmac that overlooks the magnificent Delaware River, and a perfect environment to test the absolute abilities of the Stelvio and find out how much of the Giulia QV’s thrilling muscle car character it retains as a high-riding wagon.

For that, I slip the controller into Dynamic Mode and depress the Race button in the centre, which hunkers down the suspension into its stiffest setting, sharpens the throttle map, fully deactivates its electronic stability control and opens the exhaust system.

Immediately it feels more energetic - almost manic, even - as the rear tyres chirp for traction under a full-throttle start. In an instant though, the Stelvio thrusts forward with its nose pointing skyward like an alligator lunging for a feed. The initial acceleration is relentless as the warbling V6 quickly spins towards the 6500rpm rev limiter before the auto slams into the next gear and the exhaust blurts out a succession of ear-splitting cracks on the ignition cut, which reverberate off the rock face on one side of the road and echo across the gorge on the other. It’s certainly quick, and Alfa’s claim that it can hit triple figures in 3.9 seconds and max out at 307km/h feel entirely feasible. However, it’d be nice if the engine revved another 1000rpm higher for a bit more thrill - and shrill.

In the corners, the Q certainly doesn’t feel as cumbersome as other performance SUVs when you point it towards an apex - or ten - but, at the same time, it has lost the Giulia’s gloriously tail-happy, drive-it-on-the-throttle attitude.

Yes, it retains the sedan’s pinpoint accurate, and ultra-quick, front-end but the electronic brain that constantly shuffles its torque outputs between the front and rear axles (Alfa says the Stelvio can deliver 100 per cent to the rear wheels under acceleration, or up to 60 percent to the fronts when required) and, subsequently, across the rear axle with its torque vectoring limited slip differential, means it isn’t as playful as the Giulia.

The rear can be provoked into a four-wheel drift after a dramatic Scando flick to shift the weight off its nose, otherwise the front-end will pogo and push into faint understeer when cornering at the limit.

If you remember Woodstock...

After the fun of flying around Hawk’s Nest, it’s time to dive back into civilisation - and switch the blaring exhaust off - as we point north on the I84, traversing through picturesque upstate New York before stopping for a bite to eat not far from Woodstock in the quaint tourist village of New Palz, where its main road is lined by antique shops flying the stars and stripes and hipster cafes displaying peace flags. It’s so far removed from the excess of Manhattan and the chaos of Little Italy that the Stelvio stands out like a beacon against the dichotomy of transport prowling the street, from fixed wheeled bikes at one end of the spectrum to massive full-size pick-ups at the other.

The Alfa is, however, easier to live with than either of them. It’s back seat isn’t the most spacious in its class but there is sufficient room to suit small families, with those in the back treated to rear air vents and a USB power outlet to keep mobile devices topped up.

The boot is narrow due to the fact it has a sub woofer for the stereo on one side, but it is deep enough to hold three large pieces of luggage under the parcel shelf, and will easily cater for weekly family duties such as grocery shopping and weekend sporting activities.

What's the tech like?

Leaving behind half of the humungous salad sandwiches (even hipsters can’t get away from oversized servings in America), we hit the road and head alongside the Hudson and through lush dairy farming country to meet the Massachusetts Turnpike for the home stretch into Boston.

The four-lane highway provides a good test bed for the Stelvio’s active safety systems, with the adaptive cruise and lane keeping assistance both proving to be well calibrated in heavy traffic and at highway speeds. Alfa typically hasn’t always got the electronic bits right, but the Stelvio continues to impress and proves the Italian brand is a match for the Germans when it comes to modern conveniences. Who knew?

Good will hunting for lucky charms

As we continue to uncover the Stelvio Q’s broad skillset, we eventually arrive in Boston and set about searching for a four-leaf clover to match the car’s badge, which we figure shouldn’t be too hard considering Boston claims to have the most concentrated population of Irish descendants in North America.

Surprisingly, while there’s a Black Rose, O’Brien’s or Murphy’s bar on almost every corner in downtown Boston, none of them feature a shamrock. So we head towards the iconic Fenway Park baseball stadium to see if if there any there. But nope.

Eventually, we stumble upon our lucky charm in the beautiful bayside suburb of City Point, shining above the door of the L Street Tavern which featured as Woody’s bar in the Hollywood blockbuster Good Will Hunting.

Was Sinatra right?

Just as that movie was a breakout performance for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, so too is the Stelvio Q for Alfa Romeo. It is fast, full of character and sets a new dynamic benchmark for SUVs that makes it both easy to live when you need it to be and all kinds of fun to fang when you want it to be. There’s still room for improvement, but the Stelvio’s sporting character makes much more sense in the high-performance Q model than it does in the mainstream variants that sit below it.

Yes, Alfa has “made it” in the States, with the Stelvio receiving as much critical acclaim as the Giulia did before it. But, just as it is here in Australia, they are still a rare sight and clearly Alfa Romeo still has work to do in building awareness of its comeback to “make it anywhere”.